Choral Music - A 'Project Climax' Subcategory - 12 CDs

Choral Music
Singing is the most natural form of human musical expression, and composers have been writing music for voice since ancient times. Nearly all of the medieval and Renaissance music that we know today is choral music. As instrumental music began to gain popularity in the sixteenth century, the human voice was the ideal by which all non-vocal music was judged. Even today there is no instrument that can achieve the fine shadings and emotional power of a well-trained singer.

The Western choral tradition began with composers setting sacred texts to music, and most choral music through the centuries has been devoted to praising God in some manner. The Catholic Mass (or parts of it such as the Gloria) has long been a favorite of choral composers; in particular, the Requiem Mass, or Mass for the dead, has inspired generations of composers (including Mozart, Brahms, and Verdi) to write their most powerful music. Other choral genres include the cantata, which sets a selection of Biblical texts for soloists and chorus; the oratorio, which tells a story like an opera but is not acted; and the motet, a sacred composition for unaccompanied chorus. To add additional expressiveness (and to give the chorus occasional rest in performance!), most large-scale choral works composed since 1700 alternate solo singing with choral passages.




What to do next
Once you have browsed and read about the recommended albums of this section at Classicalcdguide.com, you can come back here and download the albums that has cought your interest. The albums marked by a red number are the ones I have yet been unable to find anywhere so any help on that matter would be very much appreciated.

If you want more
In case you feel inspired to get more you are welcome to visit the main page of project Climax from where you will have access to a virtual library of quality recordings of classical music. Everything indexed into a variety of categories that should suit everyones taste.

01 - Georg Friedrich Händel; Messiah - Pinnock, The English Concert & Choir (Archiv 1990) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/34033179/097BTUGJNMFK.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34029706/097BTUGJNMFK.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34025177/097BTUGJNMFK.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34022462/097BTUGJNMFK.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34018305/097ATUGJNMFK.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34015262/097ATUGJNMFK.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34012628/097ATUGJNMFK.part1.rar

02 - Mozart; Requiem KV 626, Kyrie KV 341 - Bonney, Otter, Gardiner & Monteverdi Choir (Philips 1990)
http://rapidshare.de/files/33780632/053AWAMRKReUp.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33777482/053AWAMRKReUp.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33769393/053AWAMRKReUp.part1.rar

03 - Brahms; Ein Deutsches Requiem - Margiono, Gilfry, Gardiner & The Monteverdi Choir (Philips 1991)
http://rapidshare.de/files/31554440/032AMBNGHTUY.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31549039/032AMBNGHTUY.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31545519/032AMBNGHTUY.part1.rar

04 - Bach; Mass in B minor - Gardiner, English Baroque Soloist, Monteverdi Choir (Archiv 1990) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/30280570/Climax003b.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30276154/Climax003b.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30270720/Climax003b.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30265920/Climax003a.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30257987/Climax003a.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30250982/Climax003a.part1.rar

05 - Haydn; Mass No. 11 in D minor ''Lord Nelson Mass'' - Krause, Davis, Willcocks & LSO (Decca 2000)
http://rapidshare.de/files/33680007/H.NM.W.KCC.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33754199/H.NM.W.KCC.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33754253/H.NM.W.KCC.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33754254/H.NM.W.KCC.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33754677/H.NM.W.KCC.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33763154/H.NM.W.KCC.Cvrs.rar

06 - Faure; Requiem and other choral music - John Rutter, Cambridge Singers (Collegium 2000)
http://rapidshare.de/files/35997714/F.R.JR.TGSamotCLS.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35980951/F.R.JR.TGSamotCLS.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/36066638/F.R.JR.TGSamotCLS.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/36000092/F.R.JR.TGSamotCLS.Cvrs.rar

07 - The Best of the Renaissance - The Tallis Scholars (Philips 1999) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/33499949/087BOLFISHOR.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33495331/087BOLFISHOR.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33491018/087BOLFISHOR.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33486354/087AOLFISHOR.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33481204/087AOLFISHOR.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33465686/087AOLFISHOR.part1.rar

08 - Carl Orff; Carmina Burana - Presnell, Harsanyi, Ormandy & Philadelphia Orchestra (Sony 1990)
http://rapidshare.de/files/35974896/163ALOKHIFSS.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35970628/163ALOKHIFSS.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35967218/163ALOKHIFSS.part1.rar

09 - Giuseppe Verdi; Requiem - Giulini, Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Gedda, Ghiaurov (EMI 1997) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/36004691/164BWDSEFSSJ.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/36001204/164BWDSEFSSJ.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35995562/164BWDSEFSSJ.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35990402/164AWDSEFSSJ.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35987160/164AWDSEFSSJ.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35983016/164AWDSEFSSJ.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35978935/164AWDSEFSSJ.part1.rar

10 - Thomas Tallis; Spem in Alium - Peter Phillips & The Tallis Scholars (Gimell 2001)
http://rapidshare.de/files/36013594/165AJOTTIDJS.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/36008718/165AJOTTIDJS.part1.rar

11 - Bach; Magnificat, Vivaldi; Gloria - Rigby, Hendricks, Murray, Neville Marriner (EMI 1991)
http://rapidshare.de/files/34173141/103AASSJRGNN.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34168228/103AASSJRGNN.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34134225/103AASSJRGNN.part1.rar

12 - Haydn; Die Schöpfung - Fischer-Dieskau, Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker (DG 1998) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/31823877/044BMMGGJTSS.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31815223/044BMMGGJTSS.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31807951/044BMMGGJTSS.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31802375/044AMMGGJTSS.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31797740/044AMMGGJTSS.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31793131/044AMMGGJTSS.part1.rar